Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) Stock Rating Upgraded by Zacks Research

Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) was upgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on WB. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $9.80 price target on shares of Weibo in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Weibo in a report on Friday, July 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Weibo has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.90.

Weibo Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WB opened at $8.08 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.02, a current ratio of 3.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a market cap of $1.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.65, a PEG ratio of 4.91 and a beta of 0.18. Weibo has a 52 week low of $7.09 and a 52 week high of $12.96. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $7.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $8.76.

Weibo (NASDAQ:WB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 28th. The information services provider reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.02). Weibo had a net margin of 21.15% and a return on equity of 9.90%. The business had revenue of $421.33 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $416.76 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.45 EPS. Weibo’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Weibo will post 1.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Weibo

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Weibo during the 1st quarter worth approximately $117,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Weibo by 497.1% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 720,348 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,865,000 after buying an additional 599,700 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in Weibo in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,502,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Weibo during the 2nd quarter valued at $61,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Weibo by 139.5% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 47,852 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $456,000 after buying an additional 27,868 shares during the last quarter. 68.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Weibo

Weibo Corporation operates one of China’s leading social media and microblogging platforms under the brand name Weibo. Launched in August 2009 by Sina Corporation, Weibo enables users to create, share and engage with short-form posts in real time. The platform supports text, images, videos and live streams, and offers features such as trending topics, hashtag campaigns and public discussion forums to facilitate user interaction and content discovery.

Weibo’s product suite extends beyond basic social networking to include digital content services such as live streaming, online games, value-added messaging and e-commerce integrations.